Enterprise Communications Platform

Enterprise Communications Platform
The Interwise Enterprise Communications Platform enables users to conduct five different kinds of virtual meetings or presentations: iMentoring, iMeeting, iClass, iSeminar and iCast. We focused on the iMeeting portion of the product, which is intended for small group meetings and videoconferences.

Enterprise Communications Platform delivers video and audio via VOIP. During eVal tests, Interwise was the only vendor brave enough to rely on VOIP for its presentation. We found the audio quality predictably poorer than that from a conference call, but it was certainly good enough for most meeting needs.

Interwise supports video streams of up to five meeting participants. However, only the stream of the person speaking is active; the others show a still frame.
As with the other products we reviewed, Interwise Enterprise Communications Platform allowed us to present PowerPoint slides and preserve animations and builds.
Public and private chat is available, and there are buttons for signaling yes and no and for asking questions, but the interface did not really stand out from the crowd.
To enter a meeting, users are asked to choose among three options: Java participant, which requires installation of a Java applet; an option for installing an Interwise application; or an option for using a previously installed Interwise application.
As with the other products we looked at, the Java client in Interwise lacked some of the capability of the plug-in (in Interwises case, a large, 938KB plug-in that one of the judges called a "piglet"). For one thing, the Java client could show only one video screen at a time. However, even with their Java-based client, Interwise supports only Windows.
The eVal judges were impressed with the facilities for content storage in the Interwise offering, particularly with its capacity for recording, editing and reusing content from Enterprise Communications Platform meetings.
Enterprise Communications Platform costs $75,000 per year for unlimited use of audio and video for departments of as many as 300 users. Interwise also charges a one-time $25,000 setup fee.

As Editor in Chief of eWEEK Labs, Jason Brooks manages the Labs team and is responsible for eWEEK's print edition. Brooks joined eWEEK in 1999, and has covered wireless networking, office productivity suites, mobile devices, Windows, virtualization, and desktops and notebooks. JasonÃÃÃs coverage is currently focused on Linux and Unix operating systems, open-source software and licensing, cloud computing and Software as a Service. Follow Jason on Twitter at jasonbrooks, or reach him by email at jbrooks@eweek.com.